FEATURE: MAT DALE – PHOTOGRAPHER

Born in Doncaster, Mat studied Fine Art, specialising in Photography, at the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside.

He relocated to Leeds in 1999, settling in Hyde Park first, then Burley (Leeds) 6 years ago. He has a strong interest in Documentary, Portrait, Music and Street Photography. Since discovering a passion for photography whilst at university, Mat has continued to try to stay involved in the ʻsceneʼ although gradually over the years he became less active in actually taking photos himself or at least doing anything with them, due to a loss of self-confidence when he started to suffer from stress, anxiety and panic disorder.

This continued on and off from around 2006 and then also with depression from around 2012, brought on by the pressures and difficulties with both his work and home life (a failed marriage, loss of home, subsequent debt and redundancy, all within the space of 6 months.)Being made unemployed in January 2013 and then being signed off sick from having to look for employment in August 2013, to help with his recovery, Mat started to volunteer with Time to Change Leeds, a charity that campaigns to stamp out mental health stigma and discrimination run by people with lived experience.

With the right amount and type of encouragement and support, Mat has been able to gain back some of his lost confidence and given him renewed purpose and direction to enable him to start pursuing his passion for photography again and has resulted in him working on a number of photography and film projects; exhibitions, books and magazines; participating in and documenting events and campaigns for the likes of Time to Change Leeds; Love Music Leeds; Inkwell Arts; The Tetley; Leeds and York Partner-ship NHS Foundation Trust; Time to Change; Abbey House Museum; HeartsHounds; and also with Leeds Fuel Poverty Action; Hands Off Our Homes; Keep Streets Live and No Borders Leeds in collaboration with Tidal/Leeds For Change.

Since then he has gone on to try and become more involved in the Leeds and Bradford photography and art scene, securing voluntary positions with The Tetley and Impressions Gallery around exhibition and gallery work, continuing to pursue personal projects and starting to gain more experience, knowledge and contacts within the creative industries.